Friday 16 November 2012

Andreas J. Köstenberger on the Hermeneutical Triad


The ‘hermeneutical triad’ at stake here is history, literature, and theology, which provides the structure for the large textbook written by Andreas J. Köstenberger and Richard D. Patterson: Invitation to Biblical Interpretation: Exploring the Hermeneutical Triad of History, Literature, and Theology (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2011).

Köstenberger introduces and overviews the triad in a paper presented to the Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society (14 November 2012), available here.

He rightly notes that the three categories themselves – history, literature, theology – have been widely use together in treatments of biblical interpretation, though he thinks the term ‘hermeneutical triad’ is new to him.

According to Köstenberger, the hermeneutical triad is ‘the proposal that history, literature, and theology form the proper grid or lens for biblical interpretation’, and ‘this trifocal lens... is critical if we want to maintain balance in our hermeneutical endeavors’ (5).

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